One of the horror genre's "most widely read critics" (Rue Morgue # 68), "an accomplished film journalist" (Comic Buyer's Guide #1535), and the award-winning author of Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002), John Kenneth Muir, presents his blog on film, television and nostalgia, named one of the Top 100 Film Studies Blog on the Net.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Lost in Space Day: "Invaders from the Fifth Dimension"

The
Robinson family's every move is being scrutinized “from
afar by weird alien eyes.”

These
inhuman observers, however, can’t remain undetected for long. Judy (Marta
Kristen) believes that she has seen something unusual on a scanner, and Dr.
Smith (Jonathan Harris) witnesses a creepy alien ship -- resembling a giant eyeball -- land in secret.

Dr.
Smith is abducted by the aliens -- strange, mouth-less beings with big domed
foreheads -- and on board their spaceship he learns that they require a human
brain to repair their ship’s navigational computer.

Smith
convinces them that his mind wouldn’t do the job, and suggests Will Robinson (Bill
Mumy) instead.

Smith
tricks Will aboard the alien ship, and the boy learns that he is to be
permanently separated from his family.

Meanwhile,
the Robinsons and Don West (Mark Goddard) attempt to rescue him.

Realizing
that humans suffer from “emotional
blockages,” the aliens decide to let Will return to his loved ones. What seems to the aliens a “form of madness common to all” humans is
just the simple emotion of…love.

“Invaders
from the Fifth Dimension” is a significant entry for Lost in Space (1965--1968).

In many ways, it is the template for many future installments. In stories of this type, aliens visit the
Robinsons, want to separate the family, and take malicious action to do so. Meanwhile, Smith proves again and again that
he is a duplicitous coward...

Many
stories of this type repeat on the series, but “Invaders from the Fifth
Dimension” -- perhaps because it is the first in a long line -- isn’t bad. In fact, some aspects of it are downright
imaginative.

For example, the alien
spaceship is, for lack of a better word, dimensionally transcendent. Like a Time Lord TARDIS, it is bigger on the
inside than on the outside.

Similarly,
the macabre aliens, aided by the black-and-white photography, look authentically creepy
at times. They lack mouths, but also bodies, so that they seem like ambulatory
heads.

Yet the aliens, for all their
strange features, are not exactly evil. They want to return to their home, and
wish to repair their spaceship. To them,
Earth is but a “minor planetoid,” and they have no understanding of human
beings, or human relationships.

This
fact doesn’t mitigate their creepiness. In a way, it adds to it. These aliens aren’t out to kill the Robinsons, but
they regard the Robinsons as inferior and unimportant, as humans might
gaze at an unusual insect.

The aliens
don’t understand the emotional horror they suggest: separation from family, and also from
individual freedom. They want to enslave humans and use us as spare parts
(another idea seen on Doctor Who [“The Girl in the
Fireplace,” and “Deep Breath.”) That’s a
terrifying notion: to be used, against our will, as slaves to unfeeling
entities.

“Invaders
from the Fifth Dimension” is also the first episode that reveals, at least to
this degree, what a true bastard Dr. Smith truly is. Other episodes have shown him
willing to sabotage the mission and kill John Robinson.He has tried to kill the Robinsons as a group
in other stories, too.But here he
targets Will, and attempts to sell the child into the horrible slavery I noted
above.All so he can save his own
miserable skin.

Honestly,
at this point, Smith should, at the very least, be banished from the Robinson
settlement. He manipulates and tricks an innocent (Will), and is a party to his enslavement, separation from his
family, and his possible murder, even.

I
know Smith is frequently described as a buffoon or comic relief, but in these
early episodes, his actions are worse than that. They are truly reprehensible. If he attempted to trick my son, and send him
off with these particular aliens, I would have no compunctions about punishing
him, and possibly killing him.

Think
about it: the Robinsons have precious few resources, and even fewer defenses.
An alien ship shows up, and Smith sides with those aliens, and attempts to sell
them your child. He puts his well-being ahead of the family, and ahead of the community.

The
sad but logical point here is that he is untrustworthy, and worse than that,
malicious. He deserves a laser blast to
his (non-existent) heart.

Once
more, Lost in Space also depicts an alien craft with unique and original touches. I loved the web-encrusted alien vessel of “The
Derelict,” but the ship here is even more inventive in appearance.

It literally appears to be an eyeball
surrounded by stretchy-muscle tissue. It’s
a really great contrast to the very 1960s technology of the Robinsons. And again, the production values of this
episode far outstrip those of Star Trek (1966 – 1969).

Once more the story is also on point, focusing on the conceit of family, and family coming together in times of difficulty.

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About John

award-winning author of 27 books including Horror Films FAQ (2013), Horror Films of the 1990s (2011), Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), TV Year (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007), Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair (2006),, Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company (2004), The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (2004), An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (2002), The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film & Television (2004), Exploring Space:1999 (1997), An Analytical Guide to TV's Battlestar Galactica (1998), Terror Television (2001), Space:1999 - The Forsaken (2003) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002).

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